Tuesday, September 18, 2007

UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!

I'll admit it, I don't have much to say today on my blog. I've had a terribly busy week in a half where everything just sort of piled on and today I've GOTTA get some R&R for my sanity. :) But, there's always a bit left in me for celebrating!

Today I’m celebrating some things all writers sometimes forget and take for granted. Many unpublished authors may find it amazing that a published author could ever take for granted the excitement of a new release coming out. It can happen, believe me. Today I’m dropping a little whoot for the new cover I just received for UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER, the next book in my HOT ZONE series. UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER comes out October 9 at Samhain Publishing www.samhainpublishing.com. Here’s a blurb and an tiny excerpt to get your blood pumpin’!!!

She’s archaeology, he’s Special Ops, and both of them teeter on the edge of stepping into the HOT ZONE. She wants the adventure of a lifetime and isn’t willing to sacrifice it for any man…Archaeologist Fredricka “Freddie” Bodine returns to her hometown for her twentieth high school reunion, unaware that her old crush, Keith Wallace, has blown back into town. A single memory is etched deeply on her brain—the high school prom where she shared an emotionally revealing dance with him. They’d both left town after graduation, feelings unresolved and teen angst firmly in place. All he wants is to keep the girl he loved and lost safe, even if she hates him for it…Keith doesn’t want her to travel to Los Diablos, an area near ancient ruins where his sister was killed years ago. As they grapple with family pressures and the exploding passion between them, their battle of wills may just lead them to the truth living in both their hearts.

Excerpt: Warning...contents may be a little hot to the touch.

“Freddie?”

She almost came out of her skin. She whirled to the left. Standing at the very end of the aisle, Keith Wallace stared at her with a furrowed brow.

“Oh—um, hi.” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. “I didn’t know you were here. Or even in town.”

“I didn’t know you were in town.” His voice, deep and overlaid with a sexy huskiness, had always melted her insides like the most delicious combination of peanut butter and chocolate and stirred feelings she didn’t want to have.

As he sauntered toward her, she sighed. The gods could not be so cruel. Or maybe they could. The changes in him had only increased his attractiveness. Boy, oh boy, howdy, he’d matured like a fine Merlot, rich with nuances that made her mouth go dry and her heart do a silly two-step. At thirty-eight he defined disgustingly gorgeous man with a capital G.When she’d left this town twenty years ago, she’d never considered that he’d still have this effect on her. She recalled his attractiveness at eighteen, mature for his age, brooding and intense. At eighteen she’d wanted to date happy-go-lucky guys with uncomplicated backgrounds. Sure couldn’t say that about Keith. Still, nature had matured his physique in all the right ways.

At six feet and probably two inches, he made her five feet five inches feel small. The navy blue T-shirt stretched over his broad chest and wide shoulders. Muscles rippled in his biceps and forearms. Jeans defined his hips and muscular thighs and made his legs look miles longer. His work boots looked well used and scuffed. Always rugged, his face had matured into angles and planes that screamed danger and forbidden sensuality. His mahogany hair wasn’t the tousled boy anymore, but clipped military short. Without strands flopping over his face, nothing hid the thoroughly masculine lines that screamed the proverbial dark and dangerous.Her heart did a flop, a flip, and started thumping away so hard she felt the pulse in her ears.

Okay. So that reaction hadn’t changed in twenty years either.

When Keith hovered over her, staring down with those dark chocolate eyes, his frown showed genuine concern.

“What brings you here?” she asked.

“Came to pick up a book for my mom. Ernestine said you were here.” He crossed his arms, and then nodded at her huge book. “I heard you cursing. What’s wrong?”

Embarrassment heated her face. “It’s nothing significant.”

He came closer. “Oh yeah?” His lips quirked, and rare humor danced in his eyes. He glanced at the book lying open on the desk. “Sure it’s nothing?”

Freddie frowned. “I never was good at lying to you. This is—was—my favorite book in the library.”

“Was?”

“I used to check it out every once in a while when I was a kid.”

He moved nearer yet, leaning his hand on the side panel of the desk to look at the book. “A ripped page?”

She closed the book cover so he could see the photo on the front. “Archaeological sites in Mexico. Tikal. Or what my archaeology professor at Western used to say, Chicken Itza.”

He laughed, the low, rumbling sound sending vibrations through her stomach. She clenched her legs together in reaction. Holy, holy crap. A hot pulsing gathered in her loins. Talk about a record time to get turned on. Her mouth watered as her gaze traveled quickly over his chest.

7 comments:

Hi Denise, I loved Male Call and look forward to all the stories in this series. Plus who can resist a sentense like, "melted her insides like the most delicious combination of peanut butter and chocolate." Definitely, boy howdy!